Interview: Taylor Morris

Author Taylor Morris keeps her ninth and twelfth grade yearbooks beside her desk for inspiration and for reference. How cool is that? Even cooler is the lady herself. I got the chance to work with her earlier this year when I redesigned her website. When I asked her for an interview, she kindly agreed. Read on to learn how and when Taylor found her niche - writing for tweens and teens - and why she's never looked back.

Both of your novels to date, Class Favorite and Total Knockout: Tale of an Ex-Class President, deal with the politics of middle school.
What advice can you give to your readers who are
dealing with social drama?

Try to rise above it. Don't get involved in petty
squabbles. Some people naturally thrive toward drama,
and I used to be attracted to those kinds of people.
Now, I try to steer clear. Life gets complicated
enough without inviting unnecessary stuff along.

I agree. Why do you think the middle school experience is so
difficult when you're going through it and so
memorable when you're looking back on it years later?

Everything is so heightened during junior high.
You're not a kid anymore but you're not a grown up.
Your bod is changing, you're figuring out who you
are, you're dating, your grades start to matter,
status matters more - it all happens for the first time
in junior high. I remember the days leading up to my
first day of junior high and I was absolutely
terrified. It seemed so grown up. I mean, there's no
more recess!

What were you like as a kid? As a teen?

I was quiet around most people but emotional and
dramatic at home. To quote my mother when I was in
fourth grade, I was a "brat." I certainly hope I've
changed since then! Truthfully, I was friends with the
kids who were friends with the popular kids. Like, my
best friend Rendi was friends with Ashley Price, one
of the coolest girls, but Ashley and I weren't
friends. I got invited to parties by default - or
sometimes I didn't get invited at all. Then I'd get,
"Where were you Friday night? Everyone was there!"
And I'd be like, "Uh, I wasn't invited."

Are you more like Sara or Lucia?

I realized in terms of my writing that I'm like my
characters, at least a little. When I wrote Class
Favorite I was like Sara - timid and unsure. Maybe
she'll make class favorite and maybe she won't;
maybe I'll get published and maybe I won't. When I
wrote Lucia, she's already there in terms of her
presidency; the only question was, what's she going
to do with it? I felt like I had my feet a little more
firmly planted when I started Total Knockout, and my
confidence was a bit higher - that's definitely
reflected in the type of character I wrote. But
still - now I've been published, so what am I going to
do about it?

Have you ever tried
boxing or run for class president?

I never ran for anything in junior high and high
school - I was way too shy and too much of a nowhere
girl. These days I do occasionally take boxing classes
at the gym. It's an amazing workout and definitely
makes me feel tough! And is it weird that I love it
when the instructor yells at me?

Though you had enjoyed writing for a while, it wasn't
until college that you started to really work on it
and pursue it. Tell us about your experience at
Emerson.

I thought I was an okay writer but I didn't have a
clue what to write. I didn't feel like I had any
stories to tell. During one of my first short story
workshops I wrote something set in junior high that
got raves from my classmates. But everyone else had
written super-serious stories with what I felt were
very adult themes. So the next week I wrote this story
about a high-powered woman in L.A. who could no longer
take the pressure, so she jumped to her death off a
downtown building. It was embarrassingly bad. I had no
idea what I was talking about, and I had zero fun
writing it. After the class ripped my story to
shreds - nicely - someone in class asked, "Why don't
you write like you did last week? We all liked that."
The class agreed, and I swore never to go back.

So far, you've published short stories, full-length
novels, and non-fiction books. Are there any other
forms of writing you'd like to try?

Actually - no. Some people ask me if I'd like to write
for adults, which I guess they think is a natural
progression - like every tween and YA author aspires to
write in that genre. I love the genre I write for.
I've finally learned what I'm good at and plan to
stick with it. My goal now is to get a teen novel
published in hardcover. That's something I haven't
done yet, and what I'm currently aiming for. And
after that? My goal will always been to keep getting
published.

Along the same lines, have you ever thought about publishing a short story
collection?

My short stories are few and far between. Well, the
good ones anyway. I've written a lot of them, but the
only good ones are in Girls' Life magazine! Those
just spilled out perfectly. I keep waiting for that
crazy inspiration of the perfect story coming out just
right, but it hasn't happened in a while. Plus,
lately I've been too distracted with novels, and I
seem incapable of doing the two at once.

You've lived in a number of big cities: Los Angeles,
Boston, New York. Which was your favorite, and why? Do
you prefer small towns or big cities?

I've definitely become a big city girl. And not just
big cities, but east coast big cities. When I moved to
Boston I'd already lived in San Diego, which is a
beautiful city, but I felt like I found my groove in
Boston. I love walking the streets and feeling like
I'm a part of things even when I hate the world and
don't feel like talking. I love seasons, easy public
transportation, and lots and lots of choices. I
didn't like having to drive everywhere in LA, and the
weather bored me to tears. I've absolutely ruined
myself by living in New York, though. I don't know
where I could possibly move from here that would be a
step up. Berlin, Paris or London, I suppose. To me
this is by far the best, most exciting city in the
country.

What are your ten favorite books of all time?

This is an absolutely impossible question! I can say
that Gone With The Wind is my favorite book of all
time. The others are books that I really, really love.
If you ask me next month, the list may shift, but
tonight, this is what I'm feeling tonight:

1. Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. Rebel
woman caught in a love triangle (even though half the
time she doesn't really know it) set against war and
its aftermath. What more do you want?
2. Atonement by Ian McEwan. It was like taking a
literary tween novel and letting the character grow up
with her mistakes.
3. Election by Tom Perrotta. He actually came to one
of my Emerson classes and read from his very first
book, a collection of short stories, before he was a
big deal. I have a signed book from him that says,
"Good luck with the writing."
4. The Truth about Forever by Sarah Dessen. For me,
this was the first YA book where I felt like I got it.
I understood how literary YA could be.
5. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. I went to her
home in Concord, MA, at least three times in the time
I lived in Boston. I was slightly obsessed and loved
learning about her journey to publishing.
6. Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team and a Dream by
H.G. Bissinger. The brilliant non-fiction book based
on which the movie and the show are based on, one of
the best stories about small-town Texas life
7. Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn &
David Levithan. One word: swoon!
8. Harry Potter series by - duh - J.K. Rowling. I love
every word, every scene in this series.
9. East of Eden by John Steinbeck. Teen angst - and the
movie with James Dean? I got another swoon! for ya.
10. Giant by Edna Ferber. Another great, classic story
of Texas life, through the generations. Also happened
to be made into a movie starring James Dean (and
Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson).